Proteolysis of 125I-high molecular weight (Mr) kininogen occurred in kaolin-activated plasma which was deficient in prekallikrein, but not in plasma which lacked both prekallikrein and Hageman factor (HF) activity. The implication of this observation is that HF itself might be capable of releasing kinin from high Mr kininogen. This concept was further supported by the following studies. In a purified protein system rabbit (Mr = 80,000) two-chain activated HF (alpha-HFa) incubated with human 125I-high Mr kininogen caused rapid proteolysis of the kininogen in the presence, but not in the absence, of kaolin. This was in contrast to the effect of kallikrein on proteolysis of high Mr kininogen which was inhibited 10-fold by the presence of kaolin. The possibilities that the alpha-HFa preparation was contaminated by rabbit kallikrein or that the human high Mr kininogen preparation was contaminated by human prekallikrein were excluded by using specific antibodies (IgG) against these proteins. The proteolytic fragments of 125I-high Mr kininogen generated by both alpha-HFa and kallikrein were indistinguishable by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel analysis. Bioassayable kinin was released from high Mr kininogen following incubation with alpha-HFa in the presence of kaolin. The amount of kinin released in proportion to the extent of proteolysis was the same for both kallikrein and alpha-HFa. The data show that activated Hageman factor may cause release of kinin by proteolytic cleavage of high Mr kininogen. This phenomenon occurs not only in a purified system of proteins but also in kaolin-activated plasma.